Injury
by KageOkami-Kogo
Summary: While Katara tend to an injury inflicted on Aang after a surprise attack, Aang begins to realize he has stronger feeling for the waterbender than he let himself believe he did. Will he continue to resist his feelings? Or give in? Movie!Kataang! ONESHOT.


Injury

Disclaimer: I do not own The Last Airbender – and frankly, I'm glad I don't lol

**A/N**: Movie Kataang. Why? It came to my attention that there were too few and the movie is obviously and because a friend suggested I write one... and because I can! :) ONESHOT

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His quest to learn the elements and stop the Fire Lord didn't exactly give time for Aang to stop and think about the small things around him. Unfortunately, the severity of his mission also didn't let him indulge in things any other normal boy his age would, such as fun, curiosity, and... girls. No, definitely not girls. Aang remembered what his mentor, Gyatso, had told him, about the Avatar being unable to have a normal "relationship" with a single person – and more to the point a _girl_, but he did not understand why... not that he had much time to dwell on such frivolous thoughts lately.

But...

Now that there seemed to be a peaceful moment, Aang had become aware of the fact that he had been spending much more time with Katara lately, learning how to water bend with her, traveling the world with her, he hadn't paid much attention to her before and wondered why he was suddenly so hyper-sensitive around her. This certainly hadn't happen to him _before_, so why now? He had never thought of his new friends as anything but that, friends, but lately, Aang's eyes would stray toward to pretty waterbender and linger on her a little longer than he would have liked – he had to concentrate on his destiny, darn it!

That's where he found himself that day, though, waterbending with Katara while Sokka was out hunting for lunch. It also occurred to him that he had been feeling a bit self-conscious around the girl if he had his shirt off – why that was, he couldn't understand either, perhaps because he felt he looked too weak for a mighty Avatar like he was supposed to be – but he however failed to notice Katara's hidden blush whenever they practiced together and he was bare-chested all the same. It didn't occur to Aang at the time that Katara had found him fascinating, he didn't notice her eyes tracing his tattoos before she quickly glanced away. He _did _however notice that she would train a little closer to him lately... and what surprised him was that he _liked _that... was that wrong? He wasn't sure.

Perhaps he had always _liked _her company, he had already admitted to himself that after being frozen in a sphere of ice for who knows how long – apparently 100 years - waking up to a face as beautiful as Katara's was quite a sight for sore eyes, not that he could risk dwelling in those _feelings_ at the time. Too much happened too fast for him to connect his feelings to his thoughts or actions for that matter, he had had to move quickly and travel often.

Now, it seemed, the lazy afternoon spent with Katara was making his mind wander more so than he had allowed it to not long ago. He stood next to Katara – who was painfully close to him this time, making his face heat up for reasons still unknown to him – moving through the motions of another waterbending exercise she had learned. "No, Aang, like this-" Aang froze in place when Katara suddenly walked behind him and leaned against him, taking his arms and fixing his stance. Aang bit his bottom lip, unwilling to allow himself to feel flustered by such an innocent action from his friend.

"Thanks..." he responded, venturing a weak smile to his tutor.

"You're welcome," Katara beamed and returned to her spot. Aang let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, he felt a bit strangled but at the same time, wished she hadn't moved away. The conflict of emotions made his face scrunch up from the dull throb of a headache that suddenly shot through his head. Why did growing up have to be so confusing? His life was already confusing enough, he didn't need more confusion added to the mix!

As if fate had read his mind, something set alarm bells off in Aang's head but he didn't exactly know what it was. A twig snapped but he was in the wilderness, twigs snapped all the time... didn't they? A rustle was heard off to the left of he and Katara... if could be a woodland critter maybe? A very manly grunt, followed by intense heat sounded clearly after a few tense moments – okay, definitely not a woodland critter! Aang sprang from his spot, throwing his body weight on Katara and to push her down, evading the stream of fire that spit through the air above them.

"We're under attack!" Katara screeched, rolling from under Aang and commanding the water near by to work for her. Aang scrambled back to his feet in time to see torch-wielding men in red and black armor dart through the trees.

'The torches, that's how they're fueling their bending...' he observed, jumping in front of Katara and spinning his staff, aided by his airbending to block the fire from reaching her. "Katara, put out their torches!" Aang suggested, swiping his staff in a large arch toward a group of the men, effectively flinging them back against the trees harshly and putting out their flames.

"Got it!" Katara answered, willing the water to rush toward the remaining men... or at least, she _thought _that was the last of them. Neither of them saw the leader of the ambush group sneaking up behind them, no doubt having separated from the group to flank them.

"AHHH!" Aang screamed in pain, jerking away from where wicked flames struck him.

"Aang! Are you okay?" Katara asked frantically, still tangling with the soldiers that were getting up from Aang's previous wind attack.

"I-I'm fine," Aang answered, though he could feel anger bubbling up inside him. "RAGH!" Aang spun and struck his staff forward violently, sending the man flying into a thick tree and knocking him unconscious – at least, Aang hoped on everything holy and pure that he had not killed the man. "Get out of here! All of you!" Aang warned angrily, watching with a misplaced sense of pleasure as the soldiers scrambled to escape his wrath, dragging their wounded or unconscious with them. Once they had ran off with their tails tucked between their legs, Aang relaxed, sighing and lowering his staff back to where he had originally rested it. "Ah-" Aang winced, rolling his shoulder and clenching his teeth. The adrenalin from the fight was wearing off now so the injury he had received from the sneak attack now demanded attention.

"Aang, are you hurt?" Katara asked in concern, walking over to him.

"No, I... I'm fine..." Aang answered, unwilling to show weakness in front of her, though he honestly didn't know why he cared about that all of a sudden.

"Are you sure?" Katara questioned, placing a hand on his shoulder – his injured shoulder. When Aang hissed in pain and jerked instinctively, he could see the familiar look of determination spark in Katara's eyes. "Liar, let me help you, sit down please," Katara said, tugging at Aang to sit on the grass next to her. Aang shuffled his feet nervously before sighing in defeat and obeying her – he found that he could never really say no to her. Katara was glad she had brought a bundle of first-aid supplies with her and pulled them out from her pack.

While Katara took out the bandages and oils to soothe his burned shoulder, Aang sat and took a moment to study her more closely. Katara was probably the most emotional person he had met thus far, though it seemed to him that she was more reserved that he knew was capable of her – perhaps she too was still getting used to their situation and was not able to relax enough to show her true personality. Katara was not just an overly emotional girly girl though, she was passionate about her ideals, unwavering and caring to those she cared for... and Aang would be as blind as a wolfbat if he hadn't noticed that her affection now extended to _him _as well, though he resisted the idea of it being anything more than affection between friends of brother and sister... not that he wouldn't have liked it if it _were _more, he just couldn't afford that sort of attachment at the moment.

Then again, the more he tried to resist it, the more he felt he was being drawn into it. 'Its not fair...' he thought as he watched her delicate hands gently apply the soothing oils on his injury, wincing slightly but relaxing when she smiled apologetically at him. It wasn't fair that he had such overwhelming and disconcerting feelings if he wasn't _allowed _to have them, or at least, act upon them. He loved his mentor and respected the elders but somehow, he felt that what they had told him about the ways of the Avatar were... distorted maybe? How would they know, anyway? If the Avatar is supposed to be attached to the world so that he or she could defend it and keep it balanced properly, how would having to stay detached from people make any sense? Aang was brought out of his reverie when he realized that he was leaning into her touch and enjoying it a little too much...

"Is something wrong? You got all tense all of a sudden," Katara pointed out, her brows furrowing in concern.

"Hm? Um, no, nothing's wrong, I'm just thinking about stuff... i-its nothing bad, don't worry," Aang replied, putting on a smile for her. Katara smiled back and nodded, apparently appeased by the answer. While Aang continued to resist the idea of being attracted to his friend, he couldn't for the life of him stop his eyes from wandering back to her ever so often. How was it that he suddenly craved her attention, her smile, her very presence so much? It served to both warm him from the peach fuzz on his head down to his toes and also confuse him. Yup, growing up sucked.

When Katara finished tending to him, she pulled away and began putting the supplies away, missing the disappointed look that crossed Aang's face. Aang was now feeling too much at a loss without her nearness to bother trying to pretend he didn't feel anything for her. The lack of contact and proximity – that had once served to leave him feeling strangled... but in a good way... - now left him feeling cold. He didn't know why – though he was beginning to understand now that his resistances were starting to weaken – but he craved her presence more so now than usual. He wanted that contact again... but how would he get it back?

Ah but there was one way... it would mean showing weakness – something he had began hating lately, at least around _her –_ but hopefully it would end up with what he wanted. Aang made a show of wincing and moaning in pain pitifully, his hand hovering shakily over his injured shoulder as if afraid to touch it. 'I hope this works...' he thought, squeezing his eyes shut to further set his point.

"Oh you poor thing!" Katara said sadly and went over to him again, pulling the boy into her arms and giving him a hug, being careful not to cause him more pain as she did so. Aang willfully let her pull him to her, relaxing in her arms and resisting the urge to sigh with content, though he couldn't stop the happy smile.

'Yes!' He thought with triumph, finally giving in to his feelings and enjoying her comforting presence. Aang closed his eyes, content to just stay there like that with her. Perhaps he should get injured more often?

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**End A/N**: Well there you have it, some kataang fluff plus what I believe is the inner workings of Noaang's mind lol, a little more serious than cartooon!Aang... Who caught the Easter egg? Katara does something with Aang that she did in the show! Woo! XD I tried writing movie!Aang sort of like a blend between cartoon!Aang and movie!Aang – i.e. gloomy and serious plus cutesie and awkward lol BAH, I dunno how to explain it as well as I wrote it... or something. Just tell me what you thought already! Jeez, don't let me ramble on like that! Please R&R!


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